Twenty Inkspots
by East Coast Ryder
Summary: A series of unconnected drabbles for the 20 inkspots challenge on livejournal. Up March 14- 8L: If you want me to, 12L: Spinning, 13D: Half accidental, Half painful instrumental, 14D: History repeats
1. Dark: Blinded By the Light

This fic is separate from my other drabblefic because it is for a challenge- the 20 inkspots challenge. I'm going to do two topic sets, the light and dark. I'll post them along with the prompt. Here's the first from the dark set:

**1.** blinded by the light

The GSP. A place of neon, LEDs and fluorescent lighting. God, he hated it. He hated the light, the shopping, everything about the GSP. After being out there, he wanted to return back inside, where he would be tormented by the other boarders. Hard to imagine; wanting to be inside!

But then, you could go to the outskirts of the overly large towns, and there are merely simple street lamps with dark places where he could go and hide from everyone else. Luckily, he could get through the outskirts even without the lamps.

He hated being blinded by the light.


	2. Dark: A Broken Circle

A/N: Okay, this one is really dark. Reminder- these drabbles are not connected. Beware: Character death! And it's not who you expect...

**2.** a broken circle

When his body fell to the floor, the circle had been broken.

It was meant to be, that one day the music would be created. Then, it would die, and arise anew, only to die once more.

And because he failed, all failed. No longer could the world function because the Dreamer had died.

He had caused a ripple, spreading from the body to the rest of the world. His death caused the death of music, which destroyed the souls of the children, which would inevitably cause a regression into the darkness that came before the circle.

And God cried.


	3. Light: The Things I Should Have Said

A/N: On the lighter side...

**1.** the things I should have said

If he could do it all over again…

He would never have said "I'm mad, you see."

He would never have said "This is my fight."

He would never have said "You're such a pain!"

He would never have said "If you say so."

He would never have said "Get over it."

In even a short amount of time, he had realized…

He should have said "I'm different."

He should have said "Come with me."

He should have said "We can deal with it together."

He should have said "We belong together."

He should have said "I still love you."


	4. Light: I Wanna Be Free

A/N: Another on the lighter side. Once you see the prompt, you'll wonder why I didn't go with Gaz for this one. I just wanted to challenge myself, that's all.

**2.** I wanna be free

For a moment, she thought that it was hopeless. That the whole trip was in vain. And yet, it wasn't. She'd learned something.

If you're not tied to anything, you'll never be free. And even if she didn't like him, she loved him. That's what she had learned through all of this. That's what she would remember.

She would remember when he held her close. She would remember when he smiled his silly smile. She would remember that even though they fought, and cursed, they loved each other.

If she had to be tied to something, it would be him.


	5. Dark: The Dark Night of the Soul

**A/N: **Another darker one. Set just after Who Wants to Live Forever.

**3.** The dark night of the soul

She could leave.

She could leave the poor boy lying there, all alone, and he wouldn't even realize it until morning. She could turn him in, and probably get off on the crimes she had committed.

However, if she left, she'd only prove them right. She would have abandoned everything she saw as good in this world. But more than that, she'd abandon him.

But then, who was he? Just a boy she had met. Nothing more.

Wasn't he?

And so she sat there, her mind torn in two as he lay there, oblivious to the struggle in her soul.


	6. Dark: My Days are the Highway Kind

A/N: Between the Breakup and Hammer to Fall

4. My Days are the Highway Kind

Seven days. Seven days of cross-country, and now, this. They couldn't possibly swim across it. Not as they were. It was just too far. But then, they couldn't take the ferry or the shuttle, either; they were fugitives.

So, they sat there. After a while, he got antsy. He couldn't just stay in one spot; he had never been able to.

And he walked, and walked, until he saw it. Across the way, maybe a kilometer out. There it was, the Europrecinct.

He couldn't wait to tell her. They could finally continue on, without a problem. He could keep going.


	7. Light: On the Nightstand

**A/N: **Here's another from the lighter set. Sometimes I wonder why they called it the light set. Or maybe I just make everything angsty.

**5.** On the nightstand

The laptop. His only true connection to reality. The thing that reminded him that he was still alive, and could carry on. Throughout the last four years, it had been his only friend. And now, it was in the hands of those pigs.

He should have left it on the nightstand, where it would be safe from the secret police.

Or, saf_er_.

It seemed that he couldn't go on, even with the girl as a potential friend. Not without the laptop.

And so, he was silent for a while. While he imagined what the pigs were doing to his friend.


	8. Light: Next to Mine

**A/N**: Another light one. Sure, not in order. I'm just posting what I have. This is WAY post-wwry.

**7.** Next to mine

It was just curiosity that made him look. It had been ten years, and he'd enjoyed every minute of them. It wasn't incredibly hard to get onto the website, but it was hard to remember what he looked like, or even his 'real' name.

Of course, he would still have had black hair and intense, green eyes, but beyond that…

He had gotten scars. His eyes were no longer filled with a boyish charm, but appeared weary after the years of finally destroying Globalsoft once and for all.

After he found himself, he noticed…

Her picture was next to his.


	9. Dark: To Sing the Blues

**A/N:** A darker one.

**5.** This is what it means to sing the blues

After a while of sipping at air, she lifted her glass. It was empty. _Damn it,_ she thought. She signaled to the barman that she wanted another, and waited.

She spent a week waiting. Couldn't remember why, but still, she waited. Something was missing. And it had to be coming. It just had to.

Or, so she thought.

Two weeks. Still nothing. Another round of booze.

Three weeks came and left.

After a month, she had realized it never would come. Whatever it was, it never would come.

_So,_ she thought, _this is what it means to sing the blues._


	10. Dark: Night, and the loves of

**6.** Night, and the loves of…

What was she doing? They had just met. And now he had his arms around her, slumbering peacefully. They had said they loved each other.

But did they love each other? She didn't know. Slowly she pried his arms off of her and sat up. It had gotten really cold, really fast, and she shivered.

She looked over toward the boy, and wondered how much she would have to give in order to stay with him. She supposed that at this point, she had no choice but to love him.

There was a lot she had to learn about love.


	11. Light: The Weight of the World

A/N: I guess Meat needs another appearance.

**3.** The weight of the world

It was fairly obvious that he wasn't the Dreamer. So he made it his own personal mission to find him. Even at the cost of his life.

She didn't like how he was always gone, how he was always on the hunt, but to him, it was the only thing worth searching for. And she hated it.

Sometimes she didn't think that the Dreamer existed. Sometimes she only wanted to see him again. Even if it meant never getting back Rock 'n' Roll.

He had the weight of the world on his shoulder. She had the weight of their world.


	12. Light: The Sea

A/N: I kinda see this as Khashoggi's POV but it's kinda ambiguous.

**9.** The sea

The Seven Seas, despite their reputation, were actually rather beautiful. The trees and flowers had water to grow. It was secluded. It was impossible to see a single building, except for the bar. But even then, it did not mar the landscape at all.

The rivers, slowly winding into the lake that was almost as low as it was three hundred years before. The trees, surrounding the lake and providing shade to counteract the heat. The animals, seen almost nowhere but there were hidden among the foliage.

It was peaceful. It was perhaps the best place that anyone could be.


	13. Dark: One Song Glory

**A/N: **I've been trying to avoid going the obvious routes for these themes, but this one just ended up as it is. Gaz's thoughts pre- WWRY (the song)

**7. **One song glory

This was it. The one chance he had to become something other than the weird kid from school. To restore rock and roll. To free everyone from the bondage of Globalsoft. And he couldn't mess up.

He _couldn't_ mess up.

In just one song, he would decide the fate of the planet. In one song, he could return glory to rock and roll.

Yet, in one song, he could condemn him and the others around him to death. He could discredit any imaginable good thoughts of real music. He could let everybody he knew down.

He would not mess up.


	14. Dark: Ghost Haunting Through Your Heart

**A/N:** It had to happen sometime. Features the daughter of Scara and Gaz, and the son of Meat and Brit.

**8.** The ghost haunting through your heart

The child ran up to her father, giggling and squealing the whole way.

She was so much like her mother, or, so her father said. When he told her that he looked sad, but there was a twinkle in his eyes that told her that it was a good thing. So she laughed even more and ran off with the other toddler, just older than she was.

She liked the other little boy, but his mom seemed just as sad as her father. It was hard to understand why all the big people were sad all the time.

Oh, well.


	15. Light: Up So High

**A/N:** Pre-WWRY- mini-Gaz has a crush on mini-Scara... influenced by the song "She's so High" by Tal Bachman.

**4.** Up so high

He didn't stand a chance with her. He was just the weirdo kid that was different, and she was the heir to one of the teen queens' thrones.

Why he liked her so much, he didn't know. She was pretty, but that wasn't it. The girl had a way of being different, sort of like he was.

But that didn't matter. She was the princess. He was a nobody. Not even worthy enough to text her. To even say her name, for that matter.

So he stayed silent, but remained watchful for any sign that she could ever love him.


	16. Light: I Need to Know

**14.** I need to know

"Well, then, what's the problem?"

"I need to know if you're serious."

"I'm serious, Scaramouche! What did you think, I was just joking?"

"Wouldn' be the firs' time."

"What?"

"I don' wan' to go through that again."

"But I mean it this time."

"Are you sure? This is big, Gazza. Bigger than Wembley."

"I'm sure! What are you worried about?"

"I'm worried the hammer's going to fall again."

"It won't. I promise you."

"Really?"

"Really."

"…You really sure?"

"Of course!"

"Then let's do i', I guess."

"…Really?"

"Really. Oh, god, tha' means I'm goin' to be Scaramouche Figgy, doesn' i'?"


	17. Dark: I Laughed so Hard I Nearly Cried

**9.** "I laughed so hard, I nearly cried"

She giggled at the thought. Her memory was still a little foggy, but she knew in her heart that they were lying.

_Real funny joke, hen,_ she thought to herself. _Brit, dead. 'E wouldn'… _

Would he?

Would he give all that he had dreamed of just to save Galileo? Would he abandon her to save rock 'n' roll?

…Of course he would.

She continued to laugh. It couldn't possibly be true.

Could it?

A tear fell down her cheek. Deep down, she knew that the girl wouldn't lie about this. But she still laughed, hoping the pain would go away.


	18. Dark: For the Fools Who Fall Behind

**A/N:** More of Khash.

**10.** Love is for the fools who fall behind

He could, off the top of his head, name many adjectives describing it. Insipid. Inane. Bleak. Agonizing. All very good descriptors, especially for that thing that people called 'love'.

In this day and age, love was a useless term used to exonerate people from actions that quite clearly indicated that he or she was mad. "I did it because I love her" being his favorite excuse.

You did not need love to get farther in life. You only needed to know the right people, dress the right way, and know a thing or two about computers. Love was for fools.


	19. Light: Never Let You Go

**11.** Never let you go

She leaned into his arms, sobbing silently into his shoulder. He slowly sat down, still holding her, inside the van.

She had always seemed so in-control, so sure of herself, so confident. It was strange, seeing her like this. Seeing her falling apart, even for someone she had only just met. He wasn't sure what he was supposed to do, was he supposed to kiss her, to tell her everything would be all right?

He didn't know.

So they held each other, her tears falling on his shoulder, his hand rubbing her back. _I'll never let you go,_ he thought.


	20. Light: Where Were You

**A/N:** Just to mix it up a bit, a first-person drabble. It's in Gazza's POV, in case you couldn't quite tell.

**17.** Where were you?

Where were you ten years ago? Why weren't you there when I first wondered what music really was? Why weren't you there when they laughed and scorned me?

Where were you? Were you just as scared as I was? Did you want to have somebody to talk to? Did you know that I was even there?

I was there. I was waiting for something, like I said before. I suffered through ten years of this, and you didn't even know that I existed. I was scared. I wanted someone to talk to.

So where were you? Can't you tell me?


	21. Dark: The Chimera Obscurant

**A/N:** Chimera: a creation of the imagination. Obscurant: One who obscures.

**11.** The chimera obscurant

It was his job. Not to say he didn't like it, but his job did not define him.

He was not a bad man. Or, not in his perspective. It wasn't bad to fight for what you believe in. Which was why he didn't hate them. It was his job to hunt them down. If they won occasionally, it was fine with him.

Unfortunately, his boss did not agree, and failure was not an option in that regard. Once he had lost the Dreamer and his bad-arsed babe, it was the end.

It was his job. Not who he was.


	22. Dark: The Last Line Drawn in the Sand

**A/N: **Italicized parts are from the song "Rent" in the musical RENT. I'm really not all that proud of this one.

**12.** "You are the last line drawn in the sand"

_Draw a line in the sand and then make a stand_

The words filled him as he caught his breath, stepping toward the mighty axe. This was their one chance to make things right. And no GaGa kid would step in their way. Not now that they'd come this far and lost so much.

_Use your camera to spar_

_Use your guitar_

Slowly, gently, he lifted up the precious instrument and plucked at a few strings. Seemed simple enough.

As he placed the strap around his shoulders, unconsciously his foot dragged across the ground.

No one would cross his line.


	23. Light: If You Want Me To

A/N: Yes, I am alive ;)

**8.** If you want me to

If she wanted him to, he would jump off a cliff.

That pretty much explained it. He would do anything for her.

If she wanted him to, he would renounce his title as Dreamer and live a simple life.

If she wanted him to, he would shave his head.

If she wanted him to, he would destroy her axe.

If she wanted him to, he would never sing again.

If she wanted him to, he would go GaGa.

If she wanted him to, he would never let her go.

Well, he'd probably do that one without her wanting him to.


	24. Light: Spinning

**12.** Spinning

It was a guilty pleasure. Standing up, her arms out and just spinning. Faster, and faster, around and around until she was so dizzy she couldn't stand.

It was like being a kid.

Except, when she was a kid there was just Globalsoft and computer programs and email and everything that real life wasn't.

She especially liked spinning in the rain.

It rained a lot more now that the planet started to rehydrate itself.

But even more than spinning in the rain, she liked spinning so much that she would get dizzy and he would catch her, holding her close.


	25. Dark: Accidental, Painful Instrumental

A/N: And now, folks, for the depressingly dark ones.

**13.** Half accidental, half painful instrumental 

It had been an accident.

One argument, blown out of control, and then...

It had been the usual- he was too much of a pushover, she was being too much of an arrogant feminist, she yelled, he argued, she had hit him... And he had taken the axe and...

Well, it didn't matter, really.

She was gone.

His Scaramouche was gone, replaced by this insane, GaGa... thing. She stood before him in all her insane computer recorded anodyne pop glory.

And though it had been her that suffered most, it was him who went through the pain of losing her.


	26. Dark: History Repeats

A/N: Way, way dark. Like superdark.

**14.** History repeats

April 14, 2279- Killer Queen inherits Globalsoft.

September 5, 2299- Galileo Figaro born.

April 2, 2307- The Hotel California is destroyed.

June 27, 2317- Britney Spears dies.

July 12, 2317- Galileo Figaro restores Rock and Roll.

May 23, 2322- The Bohemians abandon the Heartbreak Hotel.

October 20, 2322- Scaramouche dies.

January 25, 2323- Killer Queen is killed.

2338- Globalsoft begins to restructure itself.

2340- There is a failed assassination attempt on Galileo.

June 19, 2347- Khashoggi returns to Globalsoft.

September 7, 2349- Galileo is murdered.

2353- Khashoggi becomes CEO of Globalsoft.

February 3, 2359- Rock and Roll falls once more.


End file.
